Basic teachings about the Virgin Mary
BASIC TEACHINGS ABOUT THE VIRGIN MARY
Who is the mother of Jesus Christ?
The Virgin Mary.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is also our mother and leads us to Jesus. God preserved her free from all sin from her conception. That is why she is The Immaculate Conception. Like every creature, she depends on the redemption of Jesus Christ, but this redemption operated in her, preserving her from sin.
The Virgin is a mother while always being a virgin. She is now in heaven body and soul because she was assumed into heaven.
More information in the New Testament: Luke 1, 26-38
What are the Marian Dogmas?
There are four Marian dogmas:
Mary is Mother of God
The Perpetual Virginity of Mary
the immaculate conception
The Assumption of Mary.
In the year 431, the Council of Ephesus declared Mary Mother of God, Theotokos. It resolved the Nestorian controversy over the nature of Christ.
In the year 649 (two centuries later) Pope Martin I declared Perpetual Virginity (before, during and after childbirth).
More than a thousand years passed before the proclamation of the next dogma: The Immaculate Conception (1854), proclaimed by Pope Pius IX exercising the charisma of infallibility. This dogma teaches that Mary was always free from sin. She had no original sin. For more information on this dogma, read http:///dogmainmac.html
A century later, Pope Pius XII, also infallibly, defined the Assumption of Mary (1950): At the end of her earthly life, the Mother of Jesus was taken body and soul to the glory of heaven. For more information, read http:///Asuncion.html
Why do we say that Mary is “Mother of God”?
Because it is the Mother of Jesus who is God and Man. This dogma was solemnly defined by the Church in the fifth century. If we deny her divine maternity then we would also deny that Jesus Christ, her son, is God.
More information in the New Testament: Luke 1, 39-45
Are there many Virgin Mary?
There is only one. But she is known by many names in different towns: Virgen de la Caridad, de la Merced, de Lujn, Inmaculada, Guadalupe, Merced, Altagracia, etc. She is the same and only Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our mother.
To be faithful son of the Virgin
Being faithful to the Blessed Virgin requires: Wanting to be like Jesus
Love her as a Mother, listen to her as a teacher in the faith, discover her as a model of Christian life, invoke her as mediatrix of all graces, see that her only desire is to lead us to Christ for the praise of the Father and in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
The Virgin Mary will make us discover the Church, of which she is Mother, and will make us participate in her redemptive mission. That is why Our Lady always invites us to:
1) Consecrate our Life to her Immaculate and Sacred Heart. In his heart the Holy Spirit does great wonders for him. This consecration has as its end the total surrender to Jesus Christ, the renewal of baptism.
2) Always pray from the heart, especially the Holy Rosary and for the conversion of sinners.
3) Meditate on the Word of God every day.
4) Frequent confession and Holy Mass with devotion. If possible, make the holy hour before the Blessed.
5) Be faithful to our state of life. Holiness is achieved by fulfilling our duties, being what we are, out of love for God and neighbor.
6) Accept and offer our sufferings in union with Christ. Discovering that Humanity is experiencing hours of extreme difficulty and this serious purification can be alleviated by our prayers and the suffering that we generously place in her Mother’s hand.
7) Do penance for our sins and for the sins with which the Lord is continually offended; live in a continuous interior attitude of conversion to God and love of neighbor, make voluntary sacrifices, for love of God.
8) Be aware of the spiritual battle: Be constantly vigilant against the temptation of the devil.
9) Unity in the Church with its pastors; thus live the Christian life in intimate union with the Pope, the Bishops and the Priests who bear the Word, dispensers of Sacramental Grace and workers of unity in the church.
10) Exercise ourselves in living the Christian virtues: Faith – Hope – Charity – Humility – Obedience – Strength – Sobriety – Meekness – Generosity.
11) Evangelize: Announce everywhere the Word of Christ.
If you want to pray to the Virgin Mary, here are the main prayers: http:///oraciones.html
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